Temporal Vortexhttp://tvortex.com
Pocket dimensions and unnatural selectionSat, 31 Dec 2016 13:47:48 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.5http://tvortex.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/cropped-favicon-32x32.pngTemporal Vortexhttp://tvortex.com
323268933882Secret Santa 2016: Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjūhttp://tvortex.com/2016/secret-santa-2016-showa-genroku-rakugo-shinju/
http://tvortex.com/2016/secret-santa-2016-showa-genroku-rakugo-shinju/#commentsSat, 31 Dec 2016 05:20:15 +0000http://tvortex.com/?p=367Rakugo was never a thing that sparked my interest. There hasn’t been an anime I know of that really tried to showcase the early entertainment culture of Japan such as kabuki stage plays, enka, or any theater based culture. Sure, it’s been mentioned in passing for some shows that are set in Showa Era, or when Momotaro is involved – but there hasn’t been one that really made me appreciate it as an art. Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju did more than what I expected while having so much focus to the art as much as to the characters. One will enjoy seeing the growth of the characters both from the lens of rakugo, and their actual portrayal. The story takes the route of having one of the main characters narrate a series of flashbacks that would link how the past molded his current disposition in life. It had a very slow start. I was definitely not captivated with the story at first – but as the series explored the dynamics between Kiku and Sukeroku, watching them grow definitely built up my interest on how things will end. This is knowing how things will likely tragically end. After all, the English translation of the title is […]

Rakugo was never a thing that sparked my interest. There hasn’t been an anime I know of that really tried to showcase the early entertainment culture of Japan such as kabuki stage plays, enka, or any theater based culture. Sure, it’s been mentioned in passing for some shows that are set in Showa Era, or when Momotaro is involved – but there hasn’t been one that really made me appreciate it as an art. Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju did more than what I expected while having so much focus to the art as much as to the characters. One will enjoy seeing the growth of the characters both from the lens of rakugo, and their actual portrayal.

The story takes the route of having one of the main characters narrate a series of flashbacks that would link how the past molded his current disposition in life. It had a very slow start. I was definitely not captivated with the story at first – but as the series explored the dynamics between Kiku and Sukeroku, watching them grow definitely built up my interest on how things will end. This is knowing how things will likely tragically end. After all, the English translation of the title is Showa and Genroku Era Lover’s Suicide Through Rakugo. If you ever watched it and stuck with it until episode 3, but felt like nothing was happening, I implore you continue as the real build up would only start after Miyokichi, a geisha character, is introduced.

It is pure coincidence that I am watching this alongside Sangatsu no Lion this season because I saw both Kiku and Rei choosing their craft – not out of passion, but out of necessity to live. It’s not the ideal but certainly a characterization aspect that I liked from both shows. Both of them even experienced a similar abandonment trope so following their choices in life would be a struggle in real life – but that’s what made their (read: suffering) stories, good to tell and empathize with.

As much as I like Kiku and Sukeroku’s personal quest in finding their own rakugo style through the early part of the series, the highlight has always been their relationship. A brotherly love mixed with contempt, jealousy and adoration. I admire both characters for displaying brotherhood in lieu of rivalry in having to inherit the name of their master. Kiku held all of the negativity inside him after all those years – witnessing someone display a style he wanted but probably would never be able to emulate. He’s such a defeatist due to Sukeroku’s better sense of public reception – which he himself admits to be one of the important aspects of rakugo. He took quite a while to figure out that rakugo is something he’d like to continue to love and do. Meanwhile, Sukeroku – from Kiku’s point of view seemed like he had things already figured out from the very beginning. He displayed his ever cheerful facade despite his inferiority complex towards Kiku. All these feelings welled up nicely and drove the story, but there was never a moment when they forgot that they are brothers. Even when a woman became involved.

One of the highlights for me of the show was when Sukeroku did ‘Shibahama’ story towards the end of the season. I really felt the sincerity and the power of rakugo right at that moment. Or should I say story-tellers in general? I was not fully convinced on the idea of having someone do a one man act of a story but once you see Sukeroku’s Shibahama – one will realize why Japan gave rise to rakugo – why people came to appreciate and came back to theaters after the war. We all needed these stories, and we all needed the rakugokas like Sukeroku and Kikuhiko to put that human element in the stories.

The slow decline of rakugo during Showa Era adds flavor to the story because it’s no longer a personal quest to become good at their craft. At one point – it became more of how they can ensure the art of rakugo will survive the test of time. I am not familiar with Showa Era that much but I know that this time period covered the WWII and its aftermath which meant occupation of Allied powers. This brought in a lot from the west – and one of the most prominent as shown in the anime was jazz music (hello, Sakamichi no Apollon). The first ever 24 hour Japan TV network broadcast also happened pretty much around the same time period (NHK – 1953). This historical accuracy of the anime was something I really liked because it made all these real events crucial to the universe that Showa Genroku was trying to build. A universe that explores how a culture survives through the people.

Rakugo was at the verge of decline with only Kiku and Sukeroku being the last of their generation. It’s no longer just a matter of doing what was ‘normal’. Is evolving the tradition – essentially an act of destroying the core of that culture? This question was one of the lasting impact that the series had on me – besides the love for the character development. It’s hard to imagine how a big bulk of mankind’s culture might have reached this point, and the practitioners were posed with the very same dilemma. Where do you think is the borderline between innovation, and outright deviation?

There’s just so much the story has to offer since the last episode actually just sprung back to present after the flashbacks which leaves me the question how things will be from here on with Yotaro? This actually really makes me excited to explore because now we understand Kiku’s background – now we go back to present and see how he’ll fare to who seemed like an uncanny ghost of Sukeroku. His past continues to haunt him – as seen in the last S1 episode so I hope S2 is more of how he unchains himself from that and hopefully be able to continue passing on the name of Yakumo. I would hate to witness the loss of that heritage.

I am so glad however that I just recently finished watching this just on time for its S2 which will be airing on Jan 7, 2017. Thank you Secret Santa for recommending this very underrated anime. I wouldn’t have picked it up in 2016.

Please make sure you visit Reverse Thieves for more of the 2016 Secret Santa entries!

PS: My choices were: Showa Genroku, Kaichou wa Maid-Sama, and Gungrave. I’ve watched a fraction of Maid-sama but never got to finish it so I wanted something fresh. Gungrave wasn’t something on my radar at the moment but I’ll surely get back on that. It sure gives that FF Unlimited vibes that I never really understood, lol.

]]>http://tvortex.com/2016/secret-santa-2016-showa-genroku-rakugo-shinju/feed/2367Secret Santa 2015: Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate (Koichoco)http://tvortex.com/2015/secret-santa-koi-to-senkyo-to-chocolate-koichoco-review/
http://tvortex.com/2015/secret-santa-koi-to-senkyo-to-chocolate-koichoco-review/#commentsMon, 28 Dec 2015 08:30:30 +0000http://tvortex.com/?p=296Yaoi Sticks. Ok, now I’ve got you interested! It’s that time of the year again and this time, I’m reviewing Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate, or Koichoco, as how it’s commonly referred to. I do not really know why this was recommended to me, seeing I don’t follow too much of eroges in general. Reminder, I don’t do well reviewing without mentioning any spoilers, so consider yourself warned, if you’d like to continue reading. Koichoco’s first episode struck me very curiously with such a dark atmosphere right off the bat with someone getting hit by a car. Cunning, and very refreshing from what I thought would be a feel good series. “Love, Election and Chocolate”, who would have guessed any brutality from that title? Not me. I forgot for a moment that this is an eroge and we have all these heroines fawning over the protagonist. I was betrayed, however, near the end of the series as it felt like nothing’s really going to be resolved, or if there is, it’ll be dumb. I had high hopes with what conspiracies might unfold but I’d be very blunt – the series fell flat for me. It somehow became a trip to memory lane back when I used to […]

Ok, now I’ve got you interested! It’s that time of the year again and this time, I’m reviewing Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate, or Koichoco, as how it’s commonly referred to. I do not really know why this was recommended to me, seeing I don’t follow too much of eroges in general.

Reminder, I don’t do well reviewing without mentioning any spoilers, so consider yourself warned, if you’d like to continue reading.

Koichoco’s first episode struck me very curiously with such a dark atmosphere right off the bat with someone getting hit by a car. Cunning, and very refreshing from what I thought would be a feel good series. “Love, Election and Chocolate”, who would have guessed any brutality from that title? Not me. I forgot for a moment that this is an eroge and we have all these heroines fawning over the protagonist. I was betrayed, however, near the end of the series as it felt like nothing’s really going to be resolved, or if there is, it’ll be dumb. I had high hopes with what conspiracies might unfold but I’d be very blunt – the series fell flat for me.

It somehow became a trip to memory lane back when I used to watch Shuffle, Kanon and the like. It actually got me thinking which aspect of eroges actually got me interested, and I’m able to answer that now with the fantasy, and supernatural undertones of the stories. Shuffle had magic, Kanon had miracles, ef had amnesia and ghosts. I can easily classify the school life part of these shows as bland, and even forced with all these scenarios written to give way to arcs/routes for each of the heroines. However, some of them were creative in adding the fantasy aspect and this has been one of the reasons why I’ve stayed. Koichoco never had one of these though. It’s almost purely school life that watching it in 2015(this series originally aired in 2012) makes it really dull in comparison to other series in the same genre.

Koichoco makes use of the school administration and student government among its key plot devices. It’s quite ridiculous how the whole thing about election was blown out of proportion, along with the politics taking place, that it made me hate the writing of the story. It’s quite simple at first when Oojima and Food Club only wanted to avoid their club being abolished by the student council. After which, I knew someone will run in the election. It’s pretty predictable and I might have preferred it if it remained that way because what came after was rubbish.

For the record, the tagline of the visual novel goes like this: “The story of a boy yearning for true love and a girl hating chocolate.” It’s straightforward that maybe the author thought adding in a shady organization would spice things up. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. I abhor the existence of factions as they call it in the story. The part where things started descending to nonsense was when they introduced these dumb conspiracies which the story claims “for the sake of the school”.

Visual novel guys, feel free to correct and comment at this point because I’m purely speaking out of what I saw in the anime. We’re talking about student government and committees that aim to either uphold or preserve the condition of the school. I don’t get why we have to insert dirty politics where we see corrupt leaders, under the table dealings and spies. I know that the word ‘election’ is in the title, but that doesn’t warrant that we deal with such an out-of-place concept, that is politics in a high school setting. I wouldn’t even call it politics – it’s more of pretend politics or egotrip of not-so important characters.

This leads me to the second weak point of the series – the characters. Most of them were two-dimensional. I think the only characters I liked were the Shinonome sisters. For some reason, their back story was the most prominent. Mifuyu, Michiru and Isara are secondary characters at most. I’m not sure if their stories in the visual novel were written similar to the anime but they were weak and lacking. To be honest, with their limited screen time, I don’t even know how they qualified as heroines. Don’t even get me started on other members of Food Club.

It’s pretty established that we have Chisato as the favorite to win, but even her backstory makes me furrow my brows on how shallow her relationship is with Oojima, on top of having the default childhood friend status — and yet she’s the main contender! I was looking for how engaging these characters can portray their stories, but all I got was subdued drama being brushed off instantly after a slight conversation. If we’re going to break some hearts, then let it be! If ships are going to sink, let them sink. The narrative was cowardly for avoiding these, which puts me off because there’s not a single resolution to the feelings of other girls except Chisato, might it be a temporal one.

I think the series tried not to have an arc by arc resolution, to work out its election plot without seeming like it’s a dating sim game, but it worked against itself because of its poor attempt to juggle the drama (if you can call it drama), the character development (if there is), and the plot (Katahira faction blah blah).

I didn’t particularly hate the series, but I don’t particularly like it either. It was mediocre at best. Even if you argue that the focus on student council election was a bit new and entertaining, I can’t say it did real great on that part either. For example, the details of Oojima’s manifesto were skipped entirely. The guy had a nice run and had good speeches (I’d have to commend the script on that) but these nice words won’t win me over. For me, it was nothing more than a half-baked inclusion of ‘Election’ in the story – which the series admits. Oojima said it himself, at first all he wanted was to prevent his club from being dissolved, but at the end of episode 12, where the hell are we?

Overall, it was unsatisfying because I thought the series itself was confused on what was the strongest suit it wanted the audience to experience and pick up. Is it the casual school club atmosphere where everyone’s just kidding around? The harem concept? The drama? The romance? The dirty politics behind the student government? The yaoi sticks? The series itself cannot answer that – thus my frustration.

If you watched it or played the visual novel, maybe you can help me dissect it better because I just can’t do a better job than what I already said above.

Please make sure you visit Reverse Thieves for more of the Secret Santa entries!

PS: My choices were: Akira, Tokyo Godfathers, Koichoco, Silver Spoon and Ergo Proxy – I already watched Akira and Tokyo Godfathers but I didn’t realize my MAL never had it in the list (now updated!). I am reading Silver Spoon’s manga so I’m well aware of what it’s about, and I thought Ergo Proxy for Christmas is out of the question haha! Koichoco it is.

]]>http://tvortex.com/2015/secret-santa-koi-to-senkyo-to-chocolate-koichoco-review/feed/2296ReLIFE Manga – High School Revisitedhttp://tvortex.com/2015/relife-manga-high-school-revisited/
http://tvortex.com/2015/relife-manga-high-school-revisited/#commentsWed, 07 Oct 2015 12:06:47 +0000http://tvortex.com/?p=238I never venture that much into randomness, especially in the realm of mangas not unless I’ve read/heard a recommendation. It feels great however when I discover brilliant finds such as ReLIFE. I’ve discovered Barakamon pretty much the same way – and was surprised to find out that this is also a web serialized manga. This got me thinking – how explored really is the web series territory? I don’t think I’ve seen a lot of scanlated series from Gangan Online alone… Anyway, onto the topic! If not high schoolers, it’s salarymen who are often the typical protagonist set up for some plot that would extraordinarily change their life. The salarymen trope is often associated to conformity, just as how ‘ordinary’ high schoolers are, except that this trope has this charm with regards to quarter-life crisis (life goals, settling down) unlike naive high schoolers who just want some adventure. What I’m trying to say is, more often than not, it’s a better stage if you want more depth than the usual slice of life. ReLIFE manga takes advantage of that. I guess what makes it a nice hotpot for me is due to the story being a combination of both the salaryman and high schooler archetype. ReLIFE’s […]

I never venture that much into randomness, especially in the realm of mangas not unless I’ve read/heard a recommendation. It feels great however when I discover brilliant finds such as ReLIFE.

I’ve discovered Barakamon pretty much the same way – and was surprised to find out that this is also a web serialized manga. This got me thinking – how explored really is the web series territory? I don’t think I’ve seen a lot of scanlated series from Gangan Online alone…

Anyway, onto the topic!

If not high schoolers, it’s salarymen who are often the typical protagonist set up for some plot that would extraordinarily change their life. The salarymen trope is often associated to conformity, just as how ‘ordinary’ high schoolers are, except that this trope has this charm with regards to quarter-life crisis (life goals, settling down) unlike naive high schoolers who just want some adventure. What I’m trying to say is, more often than not, it’s a better stage if you want more depth than the usual slice of life. ReLIFE manga takes advantage of that. I guess what makes it a nice hotpot for me is due to the story being a combination of both the salaryman and high schooler archetype.

ReLIFE’s story follows the protagonist Kaizaki Arata, a 27-yr old man, struggling to hunt for a corporate job. He had a very short stint of three months with his first company since he resigned after a traumatic incident. This basically served as a dirty stain in his resume resulting to failed job applications afterwards. If you read the synopsis (Batoto), the story involves a so-called ReLIFE Research Institute, the company responsible for ‘hiring’ Arata as a test subject for their ‘experiment’. The premise of the experiment entails Arata to take an age-regressing drug (a perfected APTX 4869!!) and relive highschool for a year (thus the title). After completing the experiment, Arata then gets a referral that would land him a sure corporate job.

Some people would probably disagree that starting a corporate career means normal life but when you read the manga, Arata’s background is slightly revealed having come from a rural hometown, which I guess somewhat justifies his aspiration/hunger towards corporate life – a scene usually associated to an urban life.

I honestly think ReLIFE as a title is a misnomer because what Arata had to do was more of ‘re-experiencing’ high school once more. Reliving means everything would be the same from how it was. Re-experiencing is a different game since he’ll go through the process with different people, environment and expectations this time around. This actually sets the tone of the story regarding personal growth – since he has the choice this time to improve and put things right. I’ve always been a fan of stories that highlights character growth which is why I’m a fan of Yukino from Karekano, and almost all of H&C’s characters. Just like the two titles I mentioned, ReLIFE deals with growth, except it creates a pseudo environment for its protagonist to develop, and was able to pull it off naturally. (I guess that’s the point of it being called an ‘experiment’!)

Did I mention that everyone’s memories of Arata will be erased after the experiment? I guess this is also one of the aspects of the story which draws a line for Arata as to whether he’ll act as ‘a shadow passing by’ as he phrased it, or go all-out as high-schooler once again. ReLIFE Project’s aim is to gear up the NEETs so that they can go back into the corporate scene. Yoake, the person who monitors Arata, is responsible for examining if the experiment is a success or not. It is therefore implied that Arata must show growth and improvement as an individual. He may easily breeze through the year and land a job after the experiment, but it will be a mere temporal growth that won’t be sustained if there’s no shift in his mentality.

Another aspect that the manga explores is ‘second chances’. Failure in life does not always give you the option to retry, just like how the three-month stint of Arata would forever be a blot in his resume. He didn’t have the chance to redeem himself because no one has hired him after seeing this peculiar record. The high school where Arata studies for the experiment has implemented the system of endless retake exams for the students until they pass it. This may not amount to how the world outside the education ladder works but it reinforces one’s determination to keep trying despite failure – a trait that the test subjects might have lost along the way. For the most part, one would realize the grave importance of education, not in terms of knowledge, but in building one’s character – something recent shows with a high school setting have been taking for granted.

The more recent chapters would take us through Arata’s gradual involvement in the life of other students as he slowly builds his circle of friends. These chapters pretty much propel the story to character development since Arata takes up a supporting role in encouraging the students in their own share of burden. I like these chapters because there’s this implicit mutual growth between the characters while we see Arata’s internal struggle to pick himself up in front of the young ones who are doing their best. It’s not heavy drama (read: forced, at least for me) – plus there’s loads of funny conversations and interactions so the character development had its well-balanced humor.

Meanwhile, the grown-up segments of the story set a more serious atmosphere as what happened with Arata in his previous company gets revealed. We go back to the tense and gloomy part of the story where Arata lost his faith in his previous company. These flashbacks slowly haunt him as it gets triggered by the people around him. For now, this serves as the core of his character development – as to whether he’ll be able to recover from it, which pretty much is the reason why he feels miserable and adrift.

So far, I haven’t seen any pet peeves that would make me stop reading it because it simply delivers both in narrative and entertainment aspect. I guess the only questionable part of the story at this point is the entity ReLIFE Research Institute. Very little has been disclosed about the company, and the chapters have yet to reveal its ultimate goal behind the experiments. Well, not to mention how shady the age-regressing drug is! To be frank though, I’m not sure if we’ll ever get more details on this one since sci-fi hardly is a focus of the story. I guess if that’s something you can overlook, you’ll thoroughly enjoy it.

If my post made you want to read it, let me know your thoughts once you’ve tried a few chapters! It’s already slated for an anime but there’s no confirmed date as of yet on when it will be airing.

]]>http://tvortex.com/2015/relife-manga-high-school-revisited/feed/2238On Ontology and Online Games – Sword Art Online and Log Horizonhttp://tvortex.com/2015/ontology-online-games-sword-art-online-log-horizon/
http://tvortex.com/2015/ontology-online-games-sword-art-online-log-horizon/#commentsSun, 15 Feb 2015 14:03:52 +0000http://tvortex.com/?p=193It’s been a while since these two franchises have aired and I’ve seen the fans of the shows pitting both shows on the game of ‘Which Anime/Novel portrays the MMOs better’. Depending on what you enjoy from an ontological aspect of online gaming, there’s going to be one show that will resonate better. For those who watched the subs of Log Horizon, some of you might have caught the term “Pioneers of Novasphere” as the name of the expansion pack that caused the players in Elder Tale to get trapped in the game. Well that was an incorrect translation of what the expansion pack was really about. The translation should actually be “Homesteading the Noosphere”. It makes a lot more sense what Log Horizon’s focus is if you know the meaning of “Noosphere“. In contrast, Sword Art Online’s first volume’s title is “Aincrad”. While most of those who watched the anime might probably be familiar only with the “floating castle” – if you have read the later novels on Calibur, Aincrad actually comes from the phrase “An Incarnating Radius”. So there you go, keywords: Incarnation and Noosphere. Got it? It’s all starting to go wrong. This town… This world… Who’s at fault? No, […]

]]>It’s been a while since these two franchises have aired and I’ve seen the fans of the shows pitting both shows on the game of ‘Which Anime/Novel portrays the MMOs better’. Depending on what you enjoy from an ontological aspect of online gaming, there’s going to be one show that will resonate better.

For those who watched the subs of Log Horizon, some of you might have caught the term “Pioneers of Novasphere” as the name of the expansion pack that caused the players in Elder Tale to get trapped in the game. Well that was an incorrect translation of what the expansion pack was really about. The translation should actually be “Homesteading the Noosphere”. It makes a lot more sense what Log Horizon’s focus is if you know the meaning of “Noosphere“.

In contrast, Sword Art Online’s first volume’s title is “Aincrad”. While most of those who watched the anime might probably be familiar only with the “floating castle” – if you have read the later novels on Calibur, Aincrad actually comes from the phrase “An Incarnating Radius”. So there you go, keywords: Incarnation and Noosphere. Got it?

It’s all starting to go wrong. This town… This world… Who’s at fault? No, to a greater or lesser degree, everyone is. Including me, since I’m not doing anything. – Shiroe

What I am trying to say is that both franchises actually deal with the idea of existence and reality, which are topics under the umbrella of “the nature of being”. Log Horizon focuses more on the mind, while SAO deals with the flesh/matter.

Log Horizon’s take on consciousness is seen on the decision-making process of Shiroe and Round Table in challenging the current predicament ofAkihabara/Yamato Server and the existing system that supported the Elder Tale, from before it was a “game”. Meanwhile, SAO’s take on reality is seen more on the survival aspect of the game, along with the very apparent concept of virtual reality. The degree of focus can actually be distinguished by the fact that when you get killed in SAO, you’re dead in real life, but in Log Horizon, it’s only the loss of memories that counts as the death penalty.

“….​The differences between the real world and the virtual world… what are they….?” “Just the quantity of information.” – SAO Vol. 5

Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that Log Horizon and SAO do not touch other aspects besides their focus. There are actually a lot of times when they intersect. At the end of the day, we know that both anime have the tendency to go rely on the idea of cognitive science, thus their take on the role of information to the human mind or to an artificial intelligence. However, Log Horizon is seen to have given the role and concept of NPCs a richer detail. The People of the Land has taken a more active role in the plot from S1 and S2. This is a give-away on one of the ideas of existentialism “existence precedes essence” – in relation to consciousness. In essence, they are NPCs, yes – but after “Catastrophe” or should I say ” Third World Fraction”, we were made known to the changes to their role in Elder Tale. In SAO, there’s really not much to say about NPCs except for the incorporation of AI when it comes to Yui, and later on with Alicization. SAO is more detached on the game-side and focuses more in the real world application of AIs after all.

With regards to senses (especially taste/gustatory), both anime had a phase where it was explored and used as a plot device. However, we saw in SAO how it acted as a bridge for players (such as Asuna) to the real world. It’s these semblance to the real world that made them question their belief on what really is real or virtual. Log Horizon was not that into this aspect as it only made it into the list of “changes from before”.

Log Horizon presents a lot of situations that has to do with the changes in the players mind, and how they adapted to the changes in Elder Tale such as the creation of new spells, new skills, and even real world items. In SAO, all of these are system-assisted – and tied with the Cardinal System, which makes it perfunctory. This is not to say that SAO never focused on the mental effect of the game to the players because Yui was made for that purpose. Again, the difference is that SAO took the melodramatic path of scarring people through the death of their guild mates (Black Cats of the Full Moon) – again with a focus on blurring the lines between virtual reality and “true” reality. Meanwhile, Log Horizon has Debauchery Tea Party which portrays the hesitation of Shiro to deviate from mere indulgence to actually doing something. It even made way for some characters such as William to convey his thoughts about guilds and the camaraderie. Of course, we have the recent episode about the Odyssea Knights and their twisted perception of death.

At some point, for those who are reading the Alicization Arc of SAO, Kawahara-sensei introduces the concept of Transgression Quotient and fluctlights which are pretty much the concept of AIs gaining conscience – like what happened in Log Horizon after the Catastrophe. However, again, take note that these concepts are highly dependent to the Cardinal System which is, at the end of the day, 1s and 0s packed together, unlike Log Horizon which never focused on hardware or software, but simply on the mind and observation of the players.

So there you go, if you are the type who likes to think about existentialism and the role of the human mind – which is closely tied – I would say to the actual act of “role-playing” in online games, Log Horizon is for you. However if you are the type of player who integrates the real world, to that of the virtual world, then SAO is probably going to resonate more to you. Personally, I lean towards SAO. Your thoughts?

]]>http://tvortex.com/2015/ontology-online-games-sword-art-online-log-horizon/feed/6193Secret Santa 2014: Fooly Cooly (FLCL)http://tvortex.com/2014/secret-santa-2014-fooly-cooly-flcl/
http://tvortex.com/2014/secret-santa-2014-fooly-cooly-flcl/#commentsThu, 25 Dec 2014 11:24:01 +0000http://tvortex.com/?p=141Guess what! Obligatory picture of the scene Naota holding the bass guitar. Thank you my Secret Santa for recommending this show as I’ve encountered the series for a long time now but I haven’t had the push to watch it. FLCL was an interesting and mind boggling show with its weird allusion to robots. To be honest, I’m still trying to gather my thoughts on what really the show was all about. The central theme, at least for me, was Naota’s transition to adolescence. And as it stood, the way the story developed involved the closest people around Naota, just as how our very own childhood are shaped by the influences of the environment and the people around us. Naota’s attachment to his big brother – and the consequences (Mamimi) “Nothing amazing ever happens here.” You can tell that he admires his brother just with the bat he’s always carrying around but at the same time, he’s burdened with other people’s expectation to his brother – in which he suffers as a convenient proxy. Naota seemed not to mind his blurred kind of relationship with Mamimi at first because he must have thought that out of all things (or should I […]

Thank you my Secret Santa for recommending this show as I’ve encountered the series for a long time now but I haven’t had the push to watch it. FLCL was an interesting and mind boggling show with its weird allusion to robots. To be honest, I’m still trying to gather my thoughts on what really the show was all about. The central theme, at least for me, was Naota’s transition to adolescence. And as it stood, the way the story developed involved the closest people around Naota, just as how our very own childhood are shaped by the influences of the environment and the people around us.

Naota’s attachment to his big brother – and the consequences (Mamimi)

“Nothing amazing ever happens here.”

You can tell that he admires his brother just with the bat he’s always carrying around but at the same time, he’s burdened with other people’s expectation to his brother – in which he suffers as a convenient proxy. Naota seemed not to mind his blurred kind of relationship with Mamimi at first because he must have thought that out of all things (or should I say problems?) that his brother left behind – this could be one of those that he can handle on his own without taking that much of a toll. They both like Tasuku, so it’s perfectly fine for the two of them to hang out. Isn’t it just fascinating that the person not even present in the anime could have this so much influence?

While Naota certainly likes his brother, he’s frustrated that people do not see him as Naota but as Tasuku’s little brother. This comparison factor hinders him from achieving his true potential and seeing things from his very own lens. Mamimi was instrumental in setting off that desire to step out of his brother’s shadow and eventually differentiate his existence as Naota and not as “Takkun”. Haruko played her role to make sure Naota had that needed push. I guess her, as an external disturbance, released that default thinking and widened his perspective about his brother being the only “decent adult”.

His search for something out of ordinary manifests as his desire to become a proper adult like his older brother – but this was subverted due to Tasuku’s absence.

Haruko as the catalyst

“When you’re in a town that’s covered with smoke, you forget that there’s a world outside.”

I don’t really like Haruko as a character, but I don’t hate her since I haven’t seen her whole character background to judge if her selfishness is justified or not. We sadly don’t have a better back story to define her motivations. Her behavior towards Naota never seemed right to me. She may never had the right words all the time but she mentioned some of the words Naota would have liked to hear from the people around him. I can’t help but see her as a partial Kamina in the show, in the same manner that she acknowledges her need for Naota.

Naota is quite hung up on the idea that nothing amazing ever happens in the city until Haruko shows up. She was the catalyst to the almost empathetic facade he made up just to hide his frustration from the adults. Haruko was ever impulsive throughout the show which captivated Naota as a stark contrast to his environment that has subdued tone. Her transience in the story actually enabled her to have just the right impact to Naota. We all have that transient things that came and go quickly in our lives that had more impact than the things we’ve been around with for so long. Or maybe it’s because they weren’t around for so long that they had that kind of impact.

Fire Starter – Cantido-sama and Endsville

“You must hinder its growth by setting it afire.. and torch the city to purge it of its devils.. but you mustn’t burn everything. If the entire city burns down, you will have no place to stay. You will not be able to live. There can be no final victory. The only thing you can do is burn the city. Your only hope is to receive the blessing of Cantido, god of black flames.”

This game’s allusion was shortly mentioned but rather than the vague robot references, this one’s something I liked. I like the irony that the game presents which something you can readily apply to Mamimi’s situation. As much as how she wants to kill the ennui and cut all ties, she is not able to – since her relationship with Naota is one of the things that binds her to reality and Mabase. She subscribes into the idea of Cantido as a Deus ex Machina to her troubles – this differentiates her from Naota who clutches hard on his own capability.

Mamimi’s an example of what happens if you let other people swallow up your individuality without thinking for your own. This is something both she and Naota has been struggling – with Tasuku being a large portion of who they are. They tried their best not to burn down everything. Without Tasuku – these two might not be the same characters as they are now. Naota did mention that Haruko resembled his brother – but his affection towards Haruko was not rooted from this reason. Naota was lucky to have Haruko. It was unfortunate however that Mamimi only saw Naota differently a little too late before she succumbed – and technically became a part of “Endsville” for a short while.

Medical Mechanica

An Iron. Ok, that’s not really weird at all. This is actually one of the things that did not really got through me. While this corporation basically is treated as an antagonist in the series, it fails to register why the concept of “Ironing out the wrinkles in your brain so you can’t think” has to have a physical manifestation to that of alien’s. Maybe it is easier to put it that way. I was just not comfortable why there has to be an external interference by a mysterious corporation just to drive that message home. In my opinion, the setting and the supporting characters in itself are enough to establish the dilemma of our main protagonist about maturity and adolescence – that the world out there is nothing amazing at all. Everything is ordinary and everyone assumes the complacent role in the society. Even if there are situations wherein they find the need to challenge the norm, these robots (I interpret them as reset buttons to status quo) will fight their way to resist the changes about to happen.

I believe that’s typically human – so why exactly do we need Medical Mechanica – as alien existence to establish itself as an outside force pushing for “flattening of the planets”? Maybe this an idiosyncrasy of Gainax team with their obsession with aliens. For me however, this story of adolescence does not need aliens. The concept of robots does not elude me – but they need not to be aliens. This concept is human nature so having an alien as central representation seems just so wrong, at least for me.

The damn OST! and Direction

Well. It would be blasphemous if you did not like FLCL’s OST. I was smitten by Little Busters. I was actually a bit annoyed when this thing comes up back then when I was looking for Rita’s OP song for Little Busters! (Key) — but now I feel sorry for not listening to it sooner than this month… Their music sets a good tone to the story. I’d describe the music as thematic to the concept of growing up — lively, fun and filled with mixed/conflicting emotions.

Well aside from the story-related things, the direction was indeed very Gainax. The animated manga scene was one of the highlights for me since you’ll see the same style from Karekano. It’s just oddly appealing. I’d like to take that as the show’s way of saying that no matter how serious one should be in deciding how they’d want to grow up, humor and foolishness from time to time is a must!

This one is minor, but hearing some rare seiyuus was also pretty nice. I don’t particularly liked Tsubasa’s seiyuu (Karekano) but hearing her again as Haruko in FLCL was good. I was actually surprised she did the recent voice for Nonon Jakuzure (Kill la Kill). Another one would be Kitsurubami (Amarao’s subordinate) since she voiced Wanya from Daa! Daa! Daa!

————

To wrap it up, it was an enjoyable show. I actually thought I watched a full cour anime that I am watching with the rich theme it is trying to tell. It was rather challenge for me at first though considering I’m getting rusty with blogging! The show was never straight forward. It wants you to interpret it openly which is a trap for someone like me. All in all, if you are familiar with Gainax, all the more you would enjoy it because it reeks of their style, all in animation, narrative and thematic. I’ve seen bits and pieces of how early they might have been thinking of Gurren Laggan during this show. Gainax never fails to deliver a story about coming of age with a twist of action and great characters.

Check out Reverse Thieve’s 6th Secret Santa Project out here for more details!

]]>http://tvortex.com/2014/secret-santa-2014-fooly-cooly-flcl/feed/3141Barakamon – First Impressionshttp://tvortex.com/2014/barakamon-first-impressions/
http://tvortex.com/2014/barakamon-first-impressions/#respondSun, 06 Jul 2014 17:08:18 +0000http://tvortex.com/?p=83From the onset, we follow the story of Handa Seishuu, a professional calligrapher who happens to screw up when he punched a curator. Since respect for the elderly/authority has been one of the standard values in Japan, he was more or less condemned by others for such an insolent and immature reaction to a criticism (no matter how funny the scene was). As some sort of punishment/time off, his father decided to exile him on an island to contemplate and reflect on what he did. I’ve been reading the source manga for over a year now and the mellow and subtle story quickly pulled me in. The first episode was pretty good but we missed some more dosage of comedy which I though was necessary for a complete and awkward first impression of the neighborhood. I thought this was necessary to establish and emphasize how eccentric the island life is compared to city life that Handa was used to. For example, the anime jumbled the events of chapter 1 and 2 a bit so I don’t know if they are planning to put what they skipped in the next episode. I think they missed to showcase how weird Naru’s grandpa is, and how much of a child […]

From the onset, we follow the story of Handa Seishuu, a professional calligrapher who happens to screw up when he punched a curator. Since respect for the elderly/authority has been one of the standard values in Japan, he was more or less condemned by others for such an insolent and immature reaction to a criticism (no matter how funny the scene was). As some sort of punishment/time off, his father decided to exile him on an island to contemplate and reflect on what he did.

I’ve been reading the source manga for over a year now and the mellow and subtle story quickly pulled me in. The first episode was pretty good but we missed some more dosage of comedy which I though was necessary for a complete and awkward first impression of the neighborhood. I thought this was necessary to establish and emphasize how eccentric the island life is compared to city life that Handa was used to.

For example, the anime jumbled the events of chapter 1 and 2 a bit so I don’t know if they are planning to put what they skipped in the next episode. I think they missed to showcase how weird Naru’s grandpa is, and how much of a child Naru is despite how easily she can tug the heartstrings of Handa. She was very likeable in the first episode, especially the good casting of her voice. This is never a bad thing but I think they decided to show Naru as someone very tamed in this episode when she is NOT. Yes, she is not mischievous enough in this episode. Her development is something I’m looking forward to see because from what I’ve read so far, Handa is hogging all of it.

This is probably the first anime I watched that is set to countryside and at the same time, has nothing to do with fantasy like Mushishi or Natsume. As such, it is very amusing to watch how this is taken through the lens of a more realistic daily life. I’ve got to admit that this is one of the reasons why I liked it from the jump start. I can only think of Persona 4, Shiki, Another, and Higurashi with characters moving to suburb/countryside and notice that those four places might not be the best places to choose from. For the first time, we are moving to the countryside for a damn breather, and not to solve some paranormal case.

I guess one of the things I’m not so sure what anime/manga wants to come across is the concept of calligraphy. I have this side who wants the series to become technical about the whole shodo/calligraphy, and there’s a side of me who’s perfectly fine that hardcore calligraphy is never touched on. It would be nice if some principles of calligraphy can mirror as a metaphor for some of the character development we’ll get. I get the impression however that the focus of the series will never be this, but simply the island life and the neighborhood. The heart of the show is the interaction between Handa and Naru so as long as they do the justice of adapting the manga, I don’t think it’s going to do bad regardless of the sidelines the series would like to do.

One of the things that fascinates me as well is the accent of the characters. It was challenging as far as I’ve heard to capture the “local” feeling of the accent as per the manga translators. “Ya just moved in din’cha?” I just cringe every time I read phrases translated in a similar way in the manga. For the case of the anime, it helps that there’s audio so hearing the quirky accent is enough while the subtitles can be transcribed in a normal way of speech. This is one of the things I’ll appreciate now that it has an anime. No more of these cringe-inducing localized phrases in the manga. Don’t get me wrong, I get that they are trying to add that colloquial feeling but it just doesn’t fit my taste. I’m used to hearing Kansai-ben, thanks to Hattori of Conan but it was never translated to capture any twangs in the accent. We’ll cross the bridge when this gets considered for a dub.

This series can depict island life in such a comedic way and at the same time effortlessly turn on the switch at a right time when it comes to Handa’s self-esteem issues. As of now, what I’m just looking forward for is for the anime to cover the chapters way ahead of the translated chapters so we can get more Handa and Naru moments. We need more of this adult-youngster duos.

]]>http://tvortex.com/2014/barakamon-first-impressions/feed/083Renewalhttp://tvortex.com/2014/renewal/
http://tvortex.com/2014/renewal/#commentsSun, 06 Jul 2014 16:01:24 +0000http://tvortex.com/?p=37So, while I haven’t been really away from the anisphere, my engagement with other bloggers have become very minimal, if not limited, for the past few months — or should I say whole year? I would prefer to believe that I was just trapped in a very hard level/stage of a game, and I finally got the rare quest item/ pre-requisite skill to reach the next level. Seriously though, I think I have procrastinated enough. It’s time for me to “come back”. orz For those who are curious enough, my previous post from the old world was all about the work I’ve been doing in the corporate. Right now, I’m in charge of a lot of tedious report-related tasks which is why there is hardly time for me to wear my blogging hat. And since I’m in GMT+8 while a lot of people I closely work with are in US, sometimes I just gotta be online at night, aside from doing my regular morning shift. And no, I can’t dedicate myself at night because my primary stakeholder works with the Asia region. While I can easily shut off my mind while watching pure entertainment and trivial plot (I’m looking at […]

So, while I haven’t been really away from the anisphere, my engagement with other bloggers have become very minimal, if not limited, for the past few months — or should I say whole year? I would prefer to believe that I was just trapped in a very hard level/stage of a game, and I finally got the rare quest item/ pre-requisite skill to reach the next level. Seriously though, I think I have procrastinated enough. It’s time for me to “come back”. orz

For those who are curious enough, my previous post from the old world was all about the work I’ve been doing in the corporate. Right now, I’m in charge of a lot of tedious report-related tasks which is why there is hardly time for me to wear my blogging hat. And since I’m in GMT+8 while a lot of people I closely work with are in US, sometimes I just gotta be online at night, aside from doing my regular morning shift. And no, I can’t dedicate myself at night because my primary stakeholder works with the Asia region. While I can easily shut off my mind while watching pure entertainment and trivial plot (I’m looking at you Nisekoi), I haven’t been able to sit down and digest it for reflection which is something I used to do, and the way I get the creative juices running for blogging.

Don’t get me wrong though, it’s not like I was able to free up my schedule or anything. I guess given the circumstance I must try a lil harder. One of the things I’ve been struggling really is effectively compartmentalizing my brain so I know when to switch on and off the one I use for my morning job and for blogging. I guess when it comes down to it, I just really miss the community as well. I prefer not to think like this but I must say that my twitter has been full of cobwebs these days. I used to talk to someone almost everyday back then but now I rarely do. I’ve been broadcasting tweets to an empty vacuum.

To be honest, even with this restart I’m not expecting to have the previous readers I’ve had to be back. It’s like the connection I had back then not just deteriorated but vanished because of the hiatus. Because of that, I may seek out some fresh blood sooner or later, if you know what I mean. But of course, I appreciate the fact that some of the guys (read: veterans, hahaha) from the sphere still haven’t forgotten me. And so, with that, I guess I’m pretty much in the scene again? No, really I mean it. If this new site will rot again, why bother making a new one.

My only problem I guess is — new anime releases haven’t been making me excited for the past 3 seasons? Well some do but — I used to watched around 10 every season, now I’m lucky to be following around 5. I’ve been doing a lot of rewatching though so my posts from here on might be a bit a untimely for some people. I hope however it’s going to incite some discussion.

Also, the OP image is Angel Beats! because I feel like the community have had a lot of people who already moved on except for me, and few others hahaha!

Well, I think that’s it for now? Watch out for some posts soon! And for those who are still keeping me in their Blogrolls, please do update them into this one if you have time! I would appreciate that. And — if you don’t find yours beside and you have an inkling that you should be, don’t hesitate to ask me because I somewhat excluded blogs that might have retired already. In any case, if you haven’t I’m so sorry – let me know and I’ll put it there.